"The
beginning of the Gospel according to St. Luke" - That is the significant
way in which the liturgy announced our third reading for today. By it, we are
reminded that with this gospel page we enter upon what is called "the year
of Luke" - a year in which the readings for all the Sundays of Ordinary
time will lead us through this entire gospel from beginning to end . As the
year progresses, you can look forward to hearing again many of your very
favorite scriptural readings. But, unfortunately, because they are spread over
so many months, we get the gospel piecemeal - in weekly segments and so cannot
really appreciate the carefully crafted way in which the evangelist tells his
Story of Jesus.

In
preparing this homily, it occurred to me that it would be spiritually rewarding
to say something about the special character and purpose of the gospel as a
whole and to point out some of its special excellences - things to be aware of
as, Sunday after Sunday, we find so many reasons why this is truly the Gospel -
the Good News which St. Luke has shared with us.

We
begin by answering the question: What do we know about the author himself?
Although there is no place in the text where he identifies himself by name, his
sequel to his gospel, The Acts of the Apostles, supplies us with important
information about him. The apostle, St. Paul, gives us his name, calling him,
"Luke, my dear physician". We know that he was the apostle’s close
friend and companion on at least one of his missionary tours. He was of Greek
rather than Jewish origin, a convert from paganism, obviously well educated,
writing with great literary skill, drawing not on his own memories of Jesus but
rather gathering together the eyewitness accounts treasured in the Christian
communities and organizing them into a continuous narrative. An ancient
tradition identifies him as an artist. And certainly the word-picture he paints
of Jesus is a true masterpiece. . Luke is obviously a person who has been captivated
by the Person of Our Lord, not only as the Incarnate Son of God and our Savior,
but also the fascinating Humanity of Jesus, perfectly human as He is perfectly
divine..

What
are some of the special discoveries about Our Lord which reward our reading of
his fascinating account? To begin with, more than any other gospel, the
prevailing mood of his Jesus-story is Joy. From first page to last, joy is the
golden thread that binds his story together. He begins with the account of the
Archangel Gabriel’s message to Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist,
telling him: "You will have joy and gladness" at the unexpected birth
of his son. When the heavenly messenger comes to Mary of Nazareth, again the
first word is joyous: "Rejoice, highly favored daughter, the Lord is with
you." He is the only one of the evangelists who remembers for us the
lovely details of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem and the message of the angels to
the shepherds: "Fear not, I bring you good news of great joy." When,
later on in Luke’s story, the disciples return from their first assignment,
announcing the "day of salvation" and preparing the way for Jesus,
Luke tells us that their hearts were overflowing with great joy. After Our
Lord’s ascension into heaven, again it is Luke who tells us that "the
disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy."

And
always, in this gospel, the reason for the joy is to be found in Our Lord. Luke
shows us Jesus as the Human Expression of the Divine Compassion. Beginning with
today’s reading Our Lord lays claim to the prophecy of Isaiah: "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor."
In this gospel, Jesus’ most characteristic gesture is that wide-armed welcome:
"Come to me, all you who labor and find life a heavy burden.... You will
find rest for your souls." It is Luke who gives us the parable of the
prodigal son and Luke who tells the story of the Good Shepherd, seeking out the
sheep that was lost and carrying it safely home rejoicing. It is only in this
gospel, that we hear the cry of the thief crucified beside Jesus on Calvary:
"Lord, remember me." And Jesus’ reply: "Amen I say to you, this
very day you will be with me in paradise." Only Luke recalls for us Our
Lord’s prayer for his murderers: "Father, forgive them, they know not what
they do." This is the Jesus we find in these inspired pages - His
gentleness, His patience, His ready forgiveness, His understanding of human
weakness, His sympathy for the hurting and the lonely...all those wonderful
qualities which are part of Luke’s composite picture.

Other
discoveries await us: Luke’s gospel has been called the first Christian
prayer-book. At the very beginning, he gives us the beautiful prayer of
Zachariah, celebrating the birth of John the Baptist and a few pages further,
we find the prayer of the Virgin Mary, hymning the joy of her Motherhood, the
prayer we know as The Magnificat. Only in Luke do we hear the witness of Holy
Simeon and his prayer of grateful praise as he holds in his arms the Infant
Jesus: "Now, Lord, dismiss your servant in peace." In this gospel,
Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, not just by word but even more by example.
He shows us Our Lord at prayer before every important step in His ministry,
from His baptism in the Jordan to His anguished prayer in Gethsemani and his
final words from the Cross on Calvary.

Yet
another special feature of this gospel. Nowhere do women claim so prominent and
so honored a place as they do here. Throughout his gospel, Luke balances every
male scene with a female one, and more often than not, it is the women who show
the greater faith and love. He remembers, for example, the tears of the women
on the Calvary road and that other group of women who had followed Jesus from
Galilee and were there, outnumbering the apostles near the cross of Jesus. And
it is to the holy women, there beside the empty tomb that the angels first tell
the great good news of the Risen Christ.

A
final debt we owe to Luke. His gospel is the richest source of Marian devotion.
With the exception of Matthew’s account of the Magi and the flight into Egypt
and John’s mention of Mary at the foot of the Cross, everything we know about
the Mother of Jesus, we find in this gospel. Just to enumerate those familiar
feasts we commemorate in the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary: The Annunciation,
The Visitation, The Birth at Bethlehem, the Presentation of the Child Jesus and
the Finding of the Lost Boy : All These we find here - only in Luke! How
impoverished would our devotion be without him!

The
great scripture scholar, Dr. William Barclay, speaks of St. Luke’s gospel as
"the loveliest book in the world" And he goes on to say: "It
would not be far wrong to say that the third gospel is the best life of Christ
ever written." "The world’s loveliest book" -" The very best
Life of Our Lord" High praise indeed! In these inspired pages, we find a
Treasure beyond compare. During the year that lies ahead, we can look forward
to claiming the treasure for our own.